a few questions about my first batch

[twistedinfo]

So I just started my first batch of cider

5 gallons of Tree Top apple juice
1 can of tree top concentrate
1 & 1/4 teaspoons yeast nutrient
Nottingham yeast

A couple questions
1 - When should I start to see bubbles in the air lock?
2 - Will it develop a kreisen?
3 - Should I rack to secondary? I was thinking 10-14 days and then 2 weeks in secondary.

Thanks
jeff

 

[Yooper]

It shouldn't develop a krausen but you should see some bubbles soon. I think two days or less. My wines and ciders are not very vigorous fermentations and have been pretty subtle when bubbling. I rack only when needed- when there are lees, for example. If it's in primary, I would leave it until the s.g. gets down to about 1.020 or so. Sometimes I primary in a gallon jug, and just stick an airlock on it when the s.g. drops to that area and leave it in that container, unless I have to rack off the lees.

 

[Tristan]

Cider takes longer than beer, I know that much. Sometimtes, much longer.

Neither of the batches of cider (my first, or my current) foamed up much, though it appears that the new batch did have some. This is attributable to the actual cider I added to my mix (2 gallons of Cider from a local orchard, and 3 gallons of generic apple juice).

I'm in primary right now, on day 10, and I'm still getting a bubble about every 15 seconds or so out my airlock. I'll transfer to a secondary on Saturday, and then leave that alone for probably 3 months.

Then I will decide on a second racking or not. But I won't bottle until October at the earliest.

 

[twistedinfo]

how long should I let this sit before I bottle it?

 

[C3Candy]

I've been using generic apple juice with 2 cups of various sweeteners per gallon. and i use any kind of yeast..or no yeast and it still works!
my ciders bubbling every 4 seconds now.. i think it's around day 14

 

[Yooper]

how long should I let this sit before I bottle it?

Well, it has to finish fermenting and then clear. I'm not a cider expert but my best guess is about 4-8 months from starting to bottling, if everything goes normally. It's done when it's done, and every cider is different. It depends on the yeast, spend of fermentation, etc. Patience is the key here!

 

[Bender]

I started mine at about 4:00 PM yesterday. At 1:00 AM there was no real indication of fermentation. When I got up this morning it was started to bubble. By 2:00 this afternoon it was fermenting pretty well. Overall it's a slower fermentation than I'm used to, but I usually brew with ale yeast and this is the first time I've used this wine yeast so maybe it's a slow starting yeast.